Intro to Statistics with R

Dr. Nathaniel Phillips
22 Feb 2017

Unversity of Basel, Winter 2017: 22 February 2017 - 31 May 2017

Syllabus: http://www.rpubs.com/yarrr/syllabus_Winter2016

Welcome!

  • Nathaniel Phillips, American
  • Post-doctoral researcher at Economic Psychology. Research interests: Judgment and decision making, learning, statistical reasoning.
  • 6 years ago I had never used R. Since then I use it almost every day. All day. I love it.

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Why R is so great

  • It is Free!
  • It is Powerful
  • It is Replicable
  • It is Social

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Why can R be challenging to learn?

  • R does not hold your hand and make decisions for you. It forces you to think about your data and analysis

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This is a Flipped Course

  • You will learn the basic material at home by actively reading materials.
  • In class, you will work goether to complete as many tasks from the Weekly Programming Assignment (WPA) as you can.
  • Each assignment has a Checkpoint, your goal should be pass this checkpoint.
  • At the end of class you will turn in what you complete in class.

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Go at your own pace

  • We have a diverse class. Different people have different backgrounds in programming and statistics.
  • It’s totally ok If you can’t complete all tasks in a WPA! Take your time, keep trying, ask for help.
  • If you have programmed before, challenge yourself, and help your classmates!

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Materials

  • I will provide you with all of the readings on the course syllabus.
  • Readings will introduce you to new topics, show you example code, and provide you with some exercises.
  • There are tons of great resources for learning R. If you struggle with a topic, don't be afraid to Google it!

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This is the start of your R journey...

  • You will not become an R expert after this course. That's just not possible in a semester
  • You will understand how the R language works, and learn the basic techniques of data analysis.
  • This course will just be the beginning of your R journey. After this course, you will be prepared to actively learn new topics on your own.

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Final Project

  • At the end of the course you will complete a final analysis project.
  • You will produce a short report analyzing a data set of your choosing.
  • If you don't have a data set, will give you one.

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Grading

  • This is a pass/fail course.
  • If you work hard, ask questions, and submit your assignments, you will pass.

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Tips

Work together and be noisy in class!

Ask Questions!

  sex shower
1   m      5
2   m      7
3   f     10
4   f      9

# Question 1: Conduct a test to see if men take longer showers on average than women

Here are some great questions to ask (either your classmmates or me)

  1. I have absolutely no idea how to answer this question.
  2. I have some idea of how to answer this question but I'm not sure how to get started, can you help?
  3. I wrote some code but it's not working, can you help?
  4. My code is working but I have no idea why because I just copied it from the reading, can you explain how it works?
  5. My code is working and I understand it, but is there a better way to do it? What if I wanted to change it slightly to answer a different question?

Let's get started!